Kaneria slams ECB for biased attitude

ISLAMABAD: Out of favour leg-spinner Danish Kaneria on Tuesday lashed out at the England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for its special treatment to Mervyn Westfield which clearly showed its biased and unjust attitude towards him (Kaneria).

Kaneria, who has played 61 Tests and 18 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) for Pakistan, got embroiled in a spot-fixing controversy while playing for the English county Essex. The tainted spinner has a decent Test record as he picked up 261 wickets at an average of 34.79 in 61 matches.

The ECB anti-corruption tribunal banned Kaneria for life in 2012 and Westfield was jailed the same year and banned from professional cricket for five years and club cricket for three years on spot-fixing charges. Both were banned after they played together for Essex in the English county championship.

Kaneria said it was the ECB because of which he could not remain associated with his bread and butter (cricket).

“Some people in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) did not like me and treated me as an alien as I was progressing in the game,” he said.

He said the PCB also had a biased attitude towards him as they allowed the convicted trio of Mohammed Amir, Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif to resume cricket, but not him. “The ECB had forced the PCB not to look into my case despite no proof against me,” he said.

Kaneria had also appealed for help from the Prime Minister and federal ministers, but he has yet to receive a reply from the government’s side.